The present invention relates to a showcase in which the inside of a display chamber for displaying commodities is illuminated by an LED illumination apparatus.
Heretofore, in a showcase which displays commodities in a display chamber and which is provided with illumination apparatuses for illuminating the commodities, fluorescent lamps have been used as the illumination apparatuses (e.g., see Patent Document 1). Pillars are vertically provided in the center of the edge of a front-surface opening or on both sides of the opening edge in a vertical direction, and the fluorescent lamps are attached to the rear surfaces of the pillars to illuminate the inside of the display chamber from the front side (e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-224150 (Patent Document 1) and Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 2546302 (Patent Document 2)).
The above-mentioned fluorescent lamps are forced to be subjected to a replacement operation owing to luminance lowering or lighting defect due to aged deterioration. Therefore, a user is forced to perform the replacement operation of the fluorescent lamps, which causes a problem that the operation becomes laborious. A new fluorescent lamp for replacement needs to be constantly stored, and a storage place for the fluorescent lamp needs to be secured. Furthermore, the fluorescent lamp contains mercury, and hence there has been a problem that the used fluorescent lamp cannot easily be discarded.
Moreover, illumination apparatuses such as the fluorescent lamps or LED elements are lit to generate heat themselves. In a case where the showcase is used while the inside of the display chamber is cooled by a cooling apparatus, when the illumination apparatuses are provided in the display chamber, there is a problem that the cooling efficiency of the cooling apparatus is lowered by the illumination apparatuses generating the heat when lit.
To solve the problem, it is considered that the turning ON/OFF or the illumination intensity of each illumination apparatus be adjusted, depending on whether or not a customer is present. However, since the display chamber as a cooling space has a low temperature, each heretofore used fluorescent lamp requires a certain degree of time for realizing a predetermined illumination intensity immediately after the lamp is turned on, and there is a problem in effectively illuminating the commodities. Moreover, the fluorescent lamp is frequently turned on/off, which causes a problem that the life of the lamp itself shortens.